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Results for 'Baby Development'
10 benefits of starting your baby swimming
Start your baby swimming early for lifelong benefits! Deciding when to take your baby swimming for the first time can be a daunting decision for parents but the benefits of starting swimming early are amazing. Here, we run through our top 10 benefits of starting your baby swimming as soon as possible. Babies are born with a kicking reflex. They lose this reflex around 6 months of age so be sure to take bub swimming before then to see this incredible reflex in action Swimming is a gentle…
Pregnancy Week by Week - 25 to 28 weeks
A weekly breakdown from 25 to 28 weeks Week 25 Your baby is the size of a rutabaga. The eye lids will open for the first time and the brain waves are regulating sight and sound. The functioning sense of smell allows baby to experience varying scents and odours. Your baby is urinating into the amniotic fluid to provide a cushioning, supportive environment and to maintain a stable temperature. The wave-like movements that propel food along the digestive tract have commenced. The bone marrow takes…
Tips for Buying Baby's First Shoes
One of the most exciting things about having a little one in your life is getting to dress them up! Their little onesies and clothes are so cute - and let’s not forget about their shoes! How adorable are those little, teeny-tiny shoes? So when most people buy baby their first pair of shoes, they don’t usually put that much thought into it. “Those are cute - I’ll get those!” But this is a common mistake. After all, your baby is going to learn to walk in those shoes. So yes, it can be tempting to…
Top tips for bonding with baby – a dad’s guide
This Father’s Day we’re shining a light on all the things dads can do to help prepare for and bond with their new baby. As a new dad, your relationship with your baby is crucial to their learning and development. Red Nose Chief Midwife Jane says baby is ready to communicate and bond with dad right from birth and that there’s so much you can both do together to enjoy and benefit from this time. “It might not seem like it, but your baby knows who you are and recognises your voice from when he or…
Sensory development
The newborn’s brain is only a quarter of adult size, but by the end of the first year, it will have doubled in volume. This growth is largely due to the trillions of neural connections, which allow messages to be passed from one area of the brain to another. These connections are the direct result of events and experiences encountered from birth. Babies need stimulating experiences. An environment full of interesting sounds, sights, smells, tastes and textures builds and strengthens connections…
Pregnancy Week by Week - 17 to 20 weeks
A weekly breakdown from 17 to 20 weeks Week 17 Your baby is the size of an onion. Adipose tissue or fat stores are forming under baby’s skin. This is essential for energy, insulating the body, protecting organs and defining features. The umbilical cord is becoming thicker and stronger to nourish baby. The placenta is expanding and circulation is increasing to deliver nutrients, oxygen and remove waste products. The external sex organs are fully formed to reveal baby’s gender on ultrasound. Loud…
How do our babies learn language and how should we talk to them?
Babies seem to learn their native language or languages effortlessly and very rapidly. The task of learning language, however, is not simple or trivial. In fact, it is one of the most complex cognitive skills that we develop in our lifetime. So, how do our tiny babies learn language? When do we start learning language? While it could be assumed that language learning starts when the baby is born, babies actually begin the learning process while they are still in the womb. The auditory system…
The benefits of baby massage for you and baby
Reasons to give baby massage a go! According to the International Association of Infant Massage, there is both research and anecdotal evidence from families which shows that there are many ways that babies and parents may benefit from baby massage. Relaxation and constipation The relaxation benefits are well known – from assisting with sleep patterns, increased flexibility and muscle tone to calming and reduction of stress, but what may be lesser known is that massage may assist in the relief…
Having a planned birth? Every extra week counts.
… has shown that for every week a baby is born before 39 weeks, he or she is at increasing risk of developmental … earlier than 39 weeks there was a small but significant increase in the likelihood of them being "developmentally …
Signs that my baby is teething?
Signs that my baby is teething? By Children's Panadol It's around now that small person could be getting irritable, drooling and rosy-cheeked thanks to little teeth pushing their way through the gums. Ouch! It's not much fun for them - or you - but there are things you can do to ease any discomfort and take care of these 'new arrivals'. Is My Baby Teething? Teething is part of your child’s natural development, and most commonly starts between four and nine months of age. Discomfort may start…
The essentials of baby play
Play is fundamental to healthy brain development. It lays the foundation for reading, writing, mathematical reasoning and problem solving. Play provides an emotional outlet for tension and frustration and it is crucial to the socialisation process. In fact, play is so important that it has been globally recognised to be a fundamental human right. Play can be quiet or noisy, energetic or passive, social or non-social, relaxed or serious, imaginative or purposeful. Play may or may not require…
Night Waking
Your baby can wake at night for many reasons and the cause is often age related and very individual. Night – day rhythms are not established until your baby is about three months old. From birth to six months your baby will sleep for around 2-4 hours and then wake for short periods and this occurs throughout the night. As your baby gets older (from about 6 months on) they will sleep for longer time periods that can be up to 6 or more hours and most of these longer periods will be at night. Your…
How your baby's sleep works
… The maturing of your baby’s sleeping and waking cycles is one of their most important developmental tasks … Sleep is complex, and it follows a normal developmental course similar to the way your baby develops …
21 tips to help my dad connect with me
… All the developmental stages of childhood growth have their joys and challenges. … Your child’s developmental milestones will challenge both you and your partners parenting abilities and …
Dream feeding
The term dream feeding can be confusing to anyone who is not a parent. And even for those who’ve heard it before, sometimes there’s often still some confusion over who is doing the dreaming and who is doing the feeding. Breastfeeding mothers commonly dream they are feeding their baby with dreams so vivid and real that it can be very hard to recall if they really did breastfeed or were just dreaming they did. But this is not what dream feeding refers to. What is dream feeding? Dream feeding is…
Newborn skin 101 - The little need to knows
It’s a fact: Mini humans don't come with manuals. So, if you have a new fun-size human on your hands and you’re wondering where to start when it comes to taking care of their new to the world skin and navigating the confusing world of baby skincare, you're not alone! Newborn skin isn’t all peaches and cream, it might be blotchy, bumpy, and can often be a rollercoaster, but this is all perfectly normal as it adjusts to its new world. It needs all the support it can get to stay happy and healthy…
A practical guide to eating during pregnancy
A practical guide to eating during pregnancy By Mater Mothers' Hospital Eating well when you are pregnant is important — a balanced diet, plus a supplement that contains folate and iodine is essential. Following a healthier lifestyle is a positive change you can make at this time. You might like to start thinking about a general health overhaul as well as following a nourishing diet, getting more exercise, quitting smoking (if you smoke), and cutting back on alcohol. These are all helpful…
Baby food puree: what you need to know
After feeding just with milk, a new exciting world is waiting for you and your baby: solid food. For the healthy development of your child it should be fresh and rich in vitamins. But what should you give your baby next and how do you actually make the first baby food puree? With the help of NUK and experts at The Research Institute of Child Nutrition, your homemade meals for your baby will be a success right from the start. “When and how do I start with solids?” Precisely when you begin with…
A Midwife’s Guide to Pregnancy Nutrition
In early pregnancy it is really important to have a good look at your diet so you can ensure all of your nutritional needs are being met. This is important for both your health, and also your baby’s health. Pregnancy creates extra need for certain nutrients, including iron, calcium, iodine and many vitamins. You also need around 200-300 extra calories per day during pregnancy. What foods should you include in a healthy pregnancy diet? • Fresh fruit and vegetables • Meat or meat substitutes •…
Pregnancy Week by Week - First Trimester
A weekly breakdown of your first trimester Week 4 Your baby has implanted into the uterine lining and is currently a collection of cells called a blastocyst. These cells become an embryo this week and form the placenta to nourish and protect baby. Baby is the size of a poppy seed and your child’s characteristics such as sex, eye colour and hair colour have already been determined through its chromosomes. Week 5 A missed period is experienced. The rise in HCG hormone levels will typically be…
